Various haptic actuation technologies have been used to provide vibrotactile haptic feedback to displays of touch sensitive devices, such as touch screens. Traditional haptic feedback devices use electric actuators, such as Linear Resonant Actuator (“LRA”) devices and Eccentric Rotating Mass (“ERM”) devices, or solenoids. However, these actuators are generally not scalable and do not always perform sufficiently in haptic applications. These devices are often very bulky and can have difficulty meeting certain space limitations.
Another conventional haptic feedback technology in touch sensitive devices is electro-active polymer (“EAP”) devices. One drawback of this technology, however, is that EAP-based actuators normally require thousands of volts of electricity to provide effects that are suitable for haptic applications.
In addition, integrating haptic actuation into conformable displays requires that the display, and thus also the haptic actuator, be non-flat and/or bendable. What is needed therefore are actuators that can be used to generate haptic feedback in conformable displays.